The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from death row inmate Brandon Basham, convicted of the 2002 kidnap and murder of Alice Donovan. The jury foreperson in his case made numerous phone calls to the media and to other jurors in spite of warnings from the trial judge that she was disregarding his instructions not to discuss the case. He later held her in contempt of court and ordered to return part of her juror's pay and to perform community service.

Mr. Basham asked for his sentence to be overturned but Judge Joseph Anderson refused, a decision upheld by the Fourth Circuit. Read more here in a CBS news story.